The appliqués are colorful figures and
landscapes created in bold simplicity and decorated with beads, ribbons,
even feathers, when appropriate.

"I can tell you where
every scrap of material on every picture came from," Ms. Smith explains,
citing the example of fur on the cap of the Lithuanian male figure which
was cut from a mink stole she discovered at an estate sale. After
a year of researching cultures and the history of clothing, the designer
reshaped her information and images into series of hand-stitched textile
panels.

The technique involved
countless decisions about fabrics, shapes, patterns, colors, and found
objects. Her method imitates the ways in which clothing styles develop
as people use materials at hand, combining traditional with novel materials.

The clothing in each
hanging represents a particular section or province of each country.
The year mentioned indicates the period of time in which the clothing was
worn on a daily basis in that particular region.

Skane, Sweden (1842)

The contact of the seafaring
people of Southern Sweden or Gotaland, with distant countries influenced
their clothing styles. Climate was likely the reason for their
choice of layered clothing. The well-dressed woman wore as
many as six skirts over her woolen petticoat, each layer shorter than the
next. Men often wore several pairs of trousers and as many
as three jackets at once.